On the 1st October 2010 the
majority of the provisions of The Equality Act 2010came into force. The
details are contained in Statutory Instrument 2010 No.
2317.
The 2010 Act unifies all Anti-discrimination legislation and therefore
replaces all the anti-discrimination legislation mentioned below.
In
theory new Act does not change the law but merely consolidates it into one
statute however we shall have to see what happens in
practice

It
should be noticed that this definition cuts both ways. It is just as unlawful
for a homosexual or lesbian to discriminate against a “straight” person as it is
for a “straight” person to discriminate against a homosexual or lesbian person.

One of the
problems which was recognised when these regulations were introduced is the fact
that in many religions Homosexuality is regarded as a sin therefore it was
argued that it would be difficult if not impossible to oblige Religious
employers to employ practicing homosexuals or for religious organisations to
provide services to them. These points are addressed by Reg 14
2007 Regulations and Reg 7(3) 2003 Regulations which states
that the regulations do not apply in Employment situations
where

(ii)
because of the nature of the employment and the context in which it is carried
out, so as to avoid conflicting with the strongly held religious convictions of
a significant number of the religion's followers; and

(c)
either -

(i)
the person to whom that requirement is applied does not meet it,
or

(ii)
the employer is not satisfied, and in all the circumstances it is reasonable for
him not to be satisfied, that that person meets
it.

“In
my view the condition in regulation 7(3)(b)(i), that the employer must apply the
requirement "so as to comply with the doctrines of the religion", is to be read
not as a subjective test concerning the motivation of the employer, but as an
objective test whereby it must be shown that employment of a person not meeting
the requirement would be incompatible with the doctrines of the religion.
That is very narrow in scope. Admittedly the alternative in regulation
7(3)(b)(ii) is wider; but even that is hemmed about by restrictive
language. The condition must be applied "because of the nature of the
employment and the context in which it is carried out" - which requires careful
examination of the precise nature of the employment - "so as to avoid
conflicting with the strongly held religious convictions of a significant number
of the religion's followers". Again this is in my view an objective, not
subjective, test. Further, the conflict to be avoided is with religious
convictions, which must be strongly held; and they must be the convictions of a
significant number of the religion's followers. This is going to be a very
far from easy test to satisfy in practice”

One point
that does not appear to have been considered in this case or in the
Government
Guidelines is the possibility of
a situation where the Religion or Belief Regulations come into conflict with
the Sexual
Orientation Regulations .What happens if an employee (A)
is sincerely and religiously opposed to working with Homosexuals. If A
is obliged to work with a Homosexual fellow worker (B) does that breach
A’s rights under the Religion or Belief Regulations and if A is allowed
not to work with B does that breach B’s rights under the Sexual
Orientation Regulations ? One thing that can be said with
certainty is that at some time an Employer and eventually a Tribunal is going to
be faced with that conundrum